Elisabeth M. Ogilvie (May 20, 1917 – September 9, 2006) was an American novelist. Ogilvie is best known for writing a series of novels set on islands off the coast of Maine, where she lived as an adult.[1] She died in Cushing, Maine, at the age of 89.[1]
Ogilvie was born in Boston on May 20, 1917, to Frank and Maude Ogilvie.[2] She had three older brothers.[1] Growing up, Ogilvie spent summers on the Maine island of Criehaven.[2] She was raised in Dorchester and Wollaston, and she graduated from North Quincy High School in 1934.[1][2] Ogilvie did not earn a college degree, but took a writing course at Harvard.[2]
Ogilvie published her first novel, High Tide at Noon in 1944, which was the first of eight novels in the Bennett's Island series.[2] She modeled the setting on Criehaven, the Maine island where she spent summers growing up.[3]
Ogilvie wrote 46 adult, young adult, and children's books.[2] Many of her novels dealt with life in Maine and lobstering families along the coast. She also wrote a series of novels set in Scotland, inspired by her Scottish descent and her travels there.[1] In 1950, Ogilvie published an autobiographical book, My World is an Island, about her life on Gay Island.[4]
In 1944, Ogilvie moved to a 33-acre (130,000 m2) farm on Gay Island in the town of Cushing, Maine.[5] She lived there for more than 50 years, sharing the house with her longtime companion and friend Dorothy Simpson (1905–1998), and Simpson's husband, Guy.[2]
Ogilvie died of a stroke on September 9, 2006 in Cushing, Maine.[1]
Bennett Island Family
Other Series